My 9 week old was referred to LRI from Loughborough Walk-In doctors with a very high temperature. We arrived at LRI at around 8.20pm. Her stats were taken after a half hour wait, and her temperature had dropped back to a normal level. We were shown to the breastfeeding room, to wait to be seen by a doctor.

At midnight, we were still in there, and still waiting, despite several enquiries to the nursing staff. Finally, a doctor checked my daughter over, but without taking her temperature again. He seemed quite happy, although we didn't know what had caused her high temperature. He said he would need to consult with his supervisor.

After another more than an hour's wait, the senior registrar came to us, took us into a consulting room, and told us he wanted to do a lumbar puncture to rule out meningitis! This was approx 6 hours after we had arrived at the LRI. Still, no one had taken her temperature again.

We asked that this be done, and the nurse arrived promptly, took her temperature, which was slightly high, but not dangerously so, and gave another dose of calpol. We refused the lumbar puncture and came home, arriving at 4am - 11 hours after I had first phoned NHS Direct for advice.

Anything else?

The time we waited to see a doctor was ridiculous. If my 9 week old really had meningitis, a 6 hour delay could have been fatal. Even though only one person thought it was a possibility, and as far as we were concerned, we were just waiting to be discharged, still, the 6 hour wait in the early hours of Christmas Day morning was again, unacceptable. The whole reason we were there was due to my daughter's high temperature, which no one checked again after the initial assessment by the nurse.